An actor stakes his claim, by Cedric Hardwicke (February 1958)

W I was a young man in the theatre, it was an actor’s theatre. It was dedicated almost entirely to the enjoyment of the art of acting. Then Bernard Shaw came along, attacked it and created the theatre of ideas: in other words, the playwright’s theatre. The actor naturally receded in importance. Now we have a director’s theatre-and actors have become even smaller cogs in the machine. The directors influence the actors-and the playwrights.